Cpan problems

I've used the cpan command line to install modules on several Linux
boxes in the past with no problems - cpan has installed 'out of the
box' with little or no configuration.

I've now set-up a Ubuntu 7.10 system (perl 5.8.8) and am having problems
with cpan (1.7602). Initially cpan was unable to connect with a site -
it just hung. After removing the local .cpan directory and re-installing
perl I can't even get that far - I'm now getting problems with
initialising cpan with 'o conf init'. This particular problem is that
when it gets to asking me to input a list of continents (with no options
displayed), it just loops stating that whatever I input is not a valid
option. The only way to break out of the loop is with a ^C.

I'd welcome any suggestions to enable me to get cpan up and running!

Jim Ford

Re: Cpan problems

Jim Ford wrote:

> I've used the cpan command line to install modules on several Linux
> boxes in the past with no problems - cpan has installed 'out of the
> box' with little or no configuration.
>
> I've now set-up a Ubuntu 7.10 system (perl 5.8.8) and am having problems
> with cpan (1.7602). Initially cpan was unable to connect with a site -
> it just hung. After removing the local .cpan directory and re-installing
> perl I can't even get that far - I'm now getting problems with
> initialising cpan with 'o conf init'. This particular problem is that
> when it gets to asking me to input a list of continents (with no options
> displayed), it just loops stating that whatever I input is not a valid
> option. The only way to break out of the loop is with a ^C.
>
> I'd welcome any suggestions to enable me to get cpan up and running!

I am new to Ubuntu, but from what I understand you /must not/ use CPAN,
but use the package manager (synaptic, apt-get) instead to get your
modules.

--
John

Arachnids near Coyolillo - part 1
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/05/04/arachnids-coyolillo-1. html

Re: Cpan problems

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In article , Jim
Ford wrote:

> I've used the cpan command line to install modules on several Linux
> boxes in the past with no problems - cpan has installed 'out of the
> box' with little or no configuration.
>
> I've now set-up a Ubuntu 7.10 system (perl 5.8.8) and am having problems
> with cpan (1.7602). Initially cpan was unable to connect with a site -
> it just hung. After removing the local .cpan directory and re-installing
> perl I can't even get that far - I'm now getting problems with
> initialising cpan with 'o conf init'.

Can you a complete transcript of everything that you are doing and
that cpan(1) is outputing?

Do you get the same behaviour when you start CPAN.pm directly?

$ perl -MCPAN -e shell

What's the output of `cpan -v`? I don't think I've ever released a
version 1.7602.

Thanks,

Re: Cpan problems

In article ,
john@castleamber.com says...
> Jim Ford wrote:
>
> > I've used the cpan command line to install modules on several Linux
> > boxes in the past with no problems - cpan has installed 'out of the
> > box' with little or no configuration.
> >
> > I've now set-up a Ubuntu 7.10 system (perl 5.8.8) and am having problems
> > with cpan (1.7602). Initially cpan was unable to connect with a site -
> > it just hung. After removing the local .cpan directory and re-installing
> > perl I can't even get that far - I'm now getting problems with
> > initialising cpan with 'o conf init'. This particular problem is that
> > when it gets to asking me to input a list of continents (with no options
> > displayed), it just loops stating that whatever I input is not a valid
> > option. The only way to break out of the loop is with a ^C.
> >
> > I'd welcome any suggestions to enable me to get cpan up and running!
>
> I am new to Ubuntu, but from what I understand you /must not/ use CPAN,
> but use the package manager (synaptic, apt-get) instead to get your
> modules.

Interesting - where did you see that? I'm not sure how apt-get would
interogate the CPAN archives - doesn't it only deal with the Ubuntu
repositories?

On my old Kubuntu installation (5.10) cpan worked fine.

I'm not sure I really like the 'oven-ready' Linux distros like Ubuntu.
When everything works they're fine, but when something goes wrong they
can be a pain. I might go back to Slackware if I get any more problems.

Jim Ford

Re: Cpan problems

Jim Ford wrote:

> In article ,
> john@castleamber.com says...
>> Jim Ford wrote:

[..]

>> I am new to Ubuntu, but from what I understand you /must not/ use
>> CPAN, but use the package manager (synaptic, apt-get) instead to get
>> your modules.
>
> Interesting - where did you see that? I'm not sure how apt-get would
> interogate the CPAN archives - doesn't it only deal with the Ubuntu
> repositories?

It doesn't use CPAN, it requires that the module(s) you want are available
as a package apt/synaptic can handle. (for Fedora there is software to
make packages via CPAN)

Ubuntu installs some Perl modules via apt AFAIK. If you update those via
CPAN, I can imagine stuff goes out of sync. And vice versa of course.

> On my old Kubuntu installation (5.10) cpan worked fine.

Until you accidentally update a module via CPAN, which is also managed via
apt. At least that's my understanding of it all.

> I'm not sure I really like the 'oven-ready' Linux distros like Ubuntu.
> When everything works they're fine, but when something goes wrong they
> can be a pain.

In my experience that holds for any distro/OS.

(FWIW, I prefer the automatic update process of apt (et al) over manually
once in a while checking for updates, etc.)

--
John

http://johnbokma.com/

Re: Cpan problems

John Bokma writes:

> It doesn't use CPAN, it requires that the module(s) you want are available
> as a package apt/synaptic can handle. (for Fedora there is software to
> make packages via CPAN)
>
> Ubuntu installs some Perl modules via apt AFAIK. If you update those via
> CPAN, I can imagine stuff goes out of sync. And vice versa of course.

Most of the times it works just fine.

Of course you will have problems if you got some scripts depending on
different versions of a module. This problem doesn't arise from
having modules installed from both the dirstibution and cpan but from
having incompatible dependencies.

Otherwise most thing should work as long as you respect the correct
usage of INSTALLDIR={perl,site,vendor}.

Except for one tiny thing: Don't ever upgrade Errno.pm!

The standard Errno.pm checks that Config.pm hasn't changed in some
specific way since Errno.pm was generated. So suddenly you system
might break in quite unexpected ways.

//Makholm

Re: Cpan problems

Peter Makholm wrote:

> John Bokma writes:
>
>> It doesn't use CPAN, it requires that the module(s) you want are
>> available as a package apt/synaptic can handle. (for Fedora there is
>> software to make packages via CPAN)
>>
>> Ubuntu installs some Perl modules via apt AFAIK. If you update those
>> via CPAN, I can imagine stuff goes out of sync. And vice versa of
>> course.
>
> Most of the times it works just fine.

Which is not enough for me. Like I already wrote, I prefer a central
upgrade system anyway.

--
John

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/